


What It Means to Be Human

by SgtLeppard



Category: Monsters of Verity - Victoria Schwab, Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Monsters of Verity Fusion, Existential Crisis, Gen, Our Dark Duet Spoilers, Post-Canon, Sunai!Keith (Voltron), august might as well be shiro, keith trying to come to grips with how humanity works, not really sure it counts as that though, the verity/voltron crossover no one asked for
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-20
Updated: 2017-11-25
Packaged: 2019-02-04 07:29:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,359
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12766077
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SgtLeppard/pseuds/SgtLeppard
Summary: A new Sunai is created from fire. His name is Keith.





	1. Monster

**Author's Note:**

> fUCK THE ENDING OF OUR DARK DUET FUCKED ME UP AND MY ASS-DEEP IN VOLTRON HELL SELF THOUGHT OF THIS
> 
> This was gonna be a simple one-shot, but then I just thought nah I'll split it in two. The second part will probably be longer. I think. I dunno. We'll find out

One month. It had been one month since everything had gone down. One month since Sloan and Alice were finally killed. One month since the Chaos Eater arrived and wreaked havoc and destruction on Verity.

One month since they lost Ilsa.

One month since he lost Kate.

One month, and things were not getting any easier. Malchai and Corsai still littered the city on both sides of the Seam, and the FTF were still trying to clean up the mess. Sacrifices had been made to get this far -- far too many sacrifices. But they had to take what they could get.

_"Alpha."_

"What is it?"

_"We've got a situation on our hands."_

And this was how August Flynn found himself in front of what used to be a library. It had been torched to the ground, charred bodies lying everywhere. According to the squad leader who was investigating, someone, in a fit of anger, had set fire to the building. There were no survivors. August tightened the grip on his violin. There was no telling what would spring up in the wake of this destruction, but he had to be prepared.

But what appeared in the middle of the burnt library was not a Malchai, not even several of them. Instead, it was a single person. A boy, about August's physical age, about his height as well. Black hair, styled in a mullet, lean figure. But what immediately told August that this was no ordinary boy was his cold grey eyes.

This was no mere boy. This was not even a human being.

This was a Sunai, created from this tragic act of arson.

He looked up at August, tilting his head a little in curiosity. "You're like me."

August nodded and relaxed a little bit, but remained cautious. "I'm August. What's your name?"

The new Sunai regarded him for a brief moment before looking at the ground, eyes scanning until they landed on a burnt book. An encyclopedia. It was in decent shape, despite the scene around it. He picked up the book and flipped through its pages briefly before stopping at one and pointed at random to a name.

"Keith."


	2. Human

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Humanity is more complicated than Keith originally thought.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wanted to get this done days ago, but... did I mention I hate babysitting?

Keith Flynn stared out at the horizon on the roof of the Compound, fingers drumming along his saxophone case and legs dangling over the edge. Watching the sun set was like watching the earth burn. Ironic, as his catalyst involved fire. Hell, everything about Keith was fire. A couple of FTFs often quoted some stanza from something -- a movie? -- that he didn't really care to research about having the "strength of a raging fire." He supposed they were right, in a sense.

Ever since he arrived three months ago, his life had been full of training, patrols, what he surmised could be considered concerts. It was strange, but he had adapted well. After all, it was all he knew. Still, it was a pattern. Human habit. As he thought about it, there was much he did that was so human, and yet he was a monster. Everyone seemed to make it out that the line between being human and being monster was clear cut. Maybe it wasn't. Didn't August say something like that before?

He shifted his fringe a little, eyes briefly catching the triangles that dotted his hands and arms. It wouldn't be long until the city went dark, and the real work would begin. Just a day in the life for anyone involved with the Flynn family.

"I guess finding you up here shouldn't surprise me."

Keith turned his head, spotting August a few feet away from him. "Didn't know it was a crime to watch the sun set."

August cracked a smile. His brother could be so snarky sometimes. He lowered himself next to Keith in a crouch. "Something on your mind?"

No matter how many times he'd been asked this in the short three months he'd been there, it never ceased to annoy him that he couldn't lie and just say no. Monsters couldn't lie after all. He wished he could. Sighing, he answered, "Are we really monsters, or are we some kind of being humanity can't exactly comprehend and so they call us monsters?"

August looked taken aback. He clearly hadn't thought about that. Keith continued. "Corsai and Malchai are obvious, but what about Sunai? Who's to say we can't be human? Why aren't we human? And who's to say that humanity isn't made up of monsters?"

Well, someone had to be the most human of the three of them. It made sense that it was Keith. It used to be him. "I don't know," August said. "Maybe fate likes to play cruel tricks, makes some of us... different. But maybe it's less of _what_ you are and more of _who_ you are."

Keith understood that. What made him physically a monster was how he was created. But that didn't mean he actually was. Thinking about this typically gave him a headache, but it was something he couldn't stop thinking about. August's explanation seemed to help.

"You remind me of Kate sometimes."

That came out of nowhere. While he didn't elaborate, Keith knew who August spoke of, at least vaguely. One didn't live in the Compound without knowing who Kate Harker was. Or what everyone perceived her as. Henry mentioned that August knew her best, actually _knew_ her. "What was she like?" he asked.

"Stubborn, just like you," August chuckled, drawing his gaze to the sinking sun. "That's the simplest way I can put it. She was strange in her own right. But above all, she was a fighter. It was the one thing living in this broken city couldn't take away from her. Not even living in another territory."

Keith nearly forgot Kate had lived in Prosperity for a short while before the Chaos Eater incident. He nearly forgot that she had committed, in Soro's opinion, the ultimate sin. She had created Alice. It was an accident. An accident that ultimately led to countless deaths, but an accident nonetheless. Just because he barely missed out on the whole ordeal didn't mean he didn't know what happened. Though with how highly August seemed to think of her, Keith assumed he didn't exactly fault her for it.

"Where is Kate now?" It was the one thing about her he didn't know yet.

August was silent for a moment. "...She didn't make it."

Keith's eyes widened a bit. "What happened to her?"

"She took Alice head-on," August answered. "She created her, so she was determined to kill her herself. When I finally caught up to her, Alice was dead. Kate's wounds were grievous, and I tried to help her, but..." The silence told Keith what August was omitting.

"She put up a hell of a fight," Keith mused.

August nodded. "She certainly did." He turned his attention back to Keith. "What's right and what's easy are rarely ever the same thing, Keith. Kate never took the easy way out, and we shouldn't either. Being Sunai doesn't change that." He stood up and stretched. "I'll be waiting for you downstairs."

As the eldest Sunai left the rooftop, Keith felt he was beginning to understand what humanity actually was. Being human in this world meant fighting for what's right, no matter how difficult the situation is. Shining light into dark places, just as the sun illuminates the Earth. Being a monster was the exact opposite, wanting to plunge the world in darkness, as the sun would sink below the horizon. It seemed a little too philosophical for Keith's tastes, but it made sense either way.

And what of the humans who had committed sins? Unlike Soro, Keith never really saw all of them as sinners. Context was key. A person who killed to protect their child was vastly different from a person who killed for the thrill of it. The world isn't as black and white as people make it out to be. It's all greyscale.

The sun finally set, and South City was engulfed in darkness. Keith stood up, grabbed his saxophone, and began to make his way down. There was work to be done.

**Author's Note:**

> So some things about Verity lore and Sunai!Keith for those who have no idea how this works:
> 
> \- The series takes place in the United States, or what used to be. The country went to hell in a handbasket after the Vietnam War and eventually was redivided into a handful of territories [it currently escapes me if there are seven or ten]. Where Verity is located is relatively close to Des Moines, Iowa  
>  \- There are three types of monsters in Verity: Corsai, Malchai, and Sunai. Corsai are shadow-like creatures that are created from violent, but nonlethal acts. They eat flesh and bone. Malchai are vampire-like creatures created from acts of murder. Naturally, they drink blood. Sunai are creatures that I can only describe as humanoid grim reapers and are created through acts of tragedy [i.e. anything that results in massive loss of innocent life]. They reap the souls of those who have committed murder through music  
>  \- Sunai are the most complicated type, as the majority of the time they appear human, but when they "go dark" [read: go without reaping souls for an extended period of time], they turn into a smokey and shadowy demon of sorts  
>  \- All Sunai develop marks that count how many days it has been since one has last gone dark, and what those marks are relate in a way to how they were created [catalysed is another term for this]. For Keith, these are small triangles that, when his hands are by his sides, are oriented upwards. This type of triangle is the alchemical symbol for fire  
>  \- It has been roughly 96 days since he first showed up, so he would have 96 triangles so far as he has yet to go dark  
>  \- Each Sunai also tends to generally have a personality that reflects their catalyst. In Keith's case, I would think he has a bit of a short temper  
>  \- Since Sunai use music to reap souls, each one uses an instrument to do this, but which instrument they use varies. For Keith, his instrument of choice is a tenor saxophone  
>  \- The "Chaos Eater" that was mentioned is a type of monster that came from the neighbouring territory of Prosperity and feeds on chaos itself
> 
> If anyone wants to know more, let me know and I'll add it here!


End file.
